Shall we conclude the tale of our White Chief hike?
Trail Guy thought it would be fun to go down on the other side of the canyon rather than follow the trail. I will now begin referring to him as Off Trail Guy. It was really hard. My hiking buddy and I got giddy silly, and I fell down laughing. Actually I fell because it is tricky to pick a route and pick footing, especially when there are long grasses covering the rocks. Off Trail Guy and my hiking buddy managed to remain vertical; my buddy’s husband fell once. He probably wasn’t laughing. If my buddy wasn’t with me, I might have been scared. She is very brave. We stopped several times to take cool pictures (and to regroup and perhaps to cuss Off Trail Guy).
Holy guacamole, it was a 9+ mile day, much of it off trail. My hiking buddy and I came up with a rating system, 1 being on a flat trail or maybe even a sidewalk, and 10 being not speaking to our husbands for a week. Off Trail Guy GUARANTEED this was a 5; it was 8.5. Hmmm. . .
We learned that Off Trail Guy rates trails differently than we do. We learned that we can laugh our way through difficulties. We learned another way to not come home from White Chief. And we learned that we have a strong friendship, not bruised by difficult routes.
6 Comments
“Off Trail Guy.” Clever. I like it. Hope he wasn’t offended. I think you should call swirly rock, “Petrified Coffee with Cream Rock.”
Hi Gnat! I don’t think he was offended, but he may not have read the whole entry. And nice name. . . maybe I could do an abstract painting of that rock with your title. . . nah. I’m busy with other (read “paying”) work.
On your “swirlly rock”…..do you see the deer’s head & antlers? That’s neat!!!
Cynthia, nope, no deer head. Instead, I see an angry bird!
I had to laugh. I have also been down that side of the canyon. “It is a short cut”, he said. HA!
Nancy T., I’m glad you were laughing with me. That was a booger of a route!
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